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Donít buy a house in a state where private sector workers are outnumbered by folks dependent on government.

Thinking about buying a house? Or a municipal bond? Be careful where you put your capital. Donít put it in a state at high risk of a fiscal tailspin.

Eleven states make our list of danger spots for investors. They can look forward to a rising tax burden, deteriorating state finances and an exodus of employers. The list includes California, New York, Illinois and Ohio, along with some smaller states like New Mexico and Hawaii.

If your career takes you to Los Angeles or Chicago, donít buy a house. Rent.

If you have money in municipal bonds, clean up the portfolio. Sell holdings from the sick states and reinvest where youíre less likely to get clipped. Nebraska and Virginia are unlikely to give their bondholders a Greek haircut. California and New York are comparatively risky.

Two factors determine whether a state makes this elite list of fiscal hellholes. The first is whether it has more takers than makers. A taker is someone who draws money from the government, as an employee, pensioner or welfare recipient. A maker is someone gainfully employed in the private sector.

Let us give those takers the benefit of our sympathy and assume that every single one of them is a deserving soul. This person is either genuinely needy or a dedicated public servant or the recipient of a well-earned pension. More>http://www.forbes.com/sites/baldwin/...-spiral-state/
This is 8 month old news but even more relevant today than it was then, especially since the fall of Detroit.
Individual states financing much of their own government and entitlement systems are a real stumbling block for Obama's communist redistribution of the wealth. If Progressives retain their hold over the federal government we can expect redistribution to take another turn as more money will be funneled away from responsible states to irresponsible states making the wise decisions of some to no effect.
For communism /socialism to fully take hold we need the destruction of the entire country and our current governments best minds are working on that.
Roosevelt was fast on the road to complete control of the private sector and the advance of socialism but Germany and Japan threw a monkey wrench in the gears and stopped our socialist advance dead in it's tracks for a time.
Will Obama's aspirations for new war inadvertently stop his plans for a socialist America?

The difference between pigs and people is that when they tell you you're cured it isn't a good thing.

I ain't no financial whiz, but we'll be buying a house in California soon. We'll be careful where we buy and our options are limited due to the prices. I am hoping that for once in my life my timing will be such that we'll get decent money for the Florida houses (it's hard not to considering what we paid for them) and the bottom will drop out on California prices while we're shopping.

In any event, I'll take exception to the idea that California should be on the list. Yes, it's fucked up, but it's also coastal, much hyped, and the gateway to the Pacific rim. The last time California real estate dipped, the Japanese swooped in for a buying spree. This time it will probably be Chinese buyers. The end result is the same: they can't take it with them.